Laughlin Buzz

May 29, 2013

Dining at the Edgewater Casino

Laughlin, Nevada

** Updated 10-26-2013 - two restaurants have closed, see below.

The Edgewater and Colorado Belle Casinos are located next to each other in Laughlin. Both of these properties are under the same ownership. Each one has their own Players (Access Card), however, you can use either card at the restaurants in either Casino that accept them. For some odd reason they still track your play/gaming and give out comps separately.

Dining options at the Edgewater include a steakhouse, three fast food choices, a coffee shop (no seating), a yogurt place, a diner, and the buffet.

Hickory Pit Steakhouse

This is the most expensive (and would be considered the most upscale choice) at the Edgewater. Prices have risen lately and in our opinion the service and quality has dropped. They do have a Surf and Turf special every night from 4-6PM for $19.99 (at the time of this posting).

Coco's Restaurant

This is the Laughlin version of a chain diner/bakery type place. Desserts are the best items you can try here. Their signature salads are good as well. Breakfasts are alright, they do have various specials seasonally. Keep an eye out, often you can find coupons in the local Laughlin Times newspaper that is published every Wednesday and distributed for free. Open 24 hours.

The Grand Buffet

While we try not to disparage any restaurant too much, the Grand Buffet is at this time the worst Buffet on the River in Laughlin. It is located on the lower level but way in the back.

The best part of the buffet is the staff. Unlike most of the places in the Edgewater the staff here seems to go above and beyond to be friendly and helpful. Perhaps this is to compensate for the very poor food, quality, and atmosphere and messy look of the stations. Prices have risen in the past two years as well. At one point they were offering discount buffets on Monday and Wednesday but it appears that promotion has stopped. Their prices are still lower than most of the other Buffets in Laughlin. This is one case where you get what you pay for truly does apply. If you insist on trying this buffet, the best bet is breakfast. Go early when it might be the freshest. Oddly enough at times the lines are long to get in, mostly due to the low price.

The Hickory Pit Steakhouse, Coco's and the Grand Buffet are all located just steps off the Laughlin Riverwalk on the lower level of the Edgewater Casino. In a non-slot machine or gambling area.

Fast Food

Upstairs on the Casino floor there is a McDonalds, Nathan's Hotdogs, and a Sbarro.**as of the end of October, the Nathans and Sbarro have closed and the space is under construction with a Capriotti's coming in December 2013

CLOSED

The McDonalds is usually quite busy, with limited seating and normally not very well maintained. Often you will find messy tables and booths. Staff the few times we stopped there are not very well trained, nor very friendly.

The Nathan's has the standard hot dog fare plus other items like Chicken Fingers. This is ok for a quick bite. Often there is a special on regular hot dogs.

closed, no longer available

Sbarro is good for a quick slice of pretty good Pizza. You can also get pizza to go like the Summer Special. This is a large cheese pizza for just $9.99. They offer this year round not just in the summer. The sign is even up in the winter. Beware though if you want to add other toppings to your Pizza the price jump high. Something like 16 or 17 dollars for adding Pepperoni. They also have salads and pasta dishes.

Nathan's and Sbarro share a small seating area right on the Casino floor. Again, they should clean up the area and tables faster and better.

Coffee Etc. and Yogurt-a-Go-Go

On the opposite end of the Casino floor from Sbarro there is a hallway leading back toward the pool. At the end of the hall you will find the gift shop, small arcade, and Coffee Etc and Yogurt A Go Go.

Coffee Etc....serves treats and even has cocktails. This is just a small space with a couple display cases, no seating.

You can go back down the hallway and there are some chairs there with TV's. (right in the hall). Best known for their sweet stuff and Krispy Kreme donuts. Get there early, sometimes they sell out fast.

Yogurt A Go Go is the newest place in the Edgewater.

The Dairy Queen they formerly had closed and this is apparently their substitute. Located right next to Coffee Etc, it is a self serve yogurt area with a few flavors. Twice now when we were there at least one of the machines was out of order. Pricing is 40 cents a ounce.

Except for a quick slice or hot dog we don't currently recommend too much of the dining choices at the Edgewater. Dark, dingy, low quality and in need of cleaning comes to mind right away. Plus the customer service and hospitality is very lacking at all the places. Hopefully in the future the Edgewater will up their game and improve on this. Until then we will put our dining out dollars (and gaming dollars) elsewhere.

May 28, 2013

Hickory Pit Steakhouse

Edgewater Resort and Casino, Laughlin, NV

Date of visit and review: May 2013

The Hickory Pit features *what used to be* a very good Surf and Turf special from 4 to 6pm.

Choices of the Surf and Turf Special

The price has risen over the past two years from $16.99 to $19.99 (currently). The special is served with a choice of potato or rice pilaf, veggies, and a salad.

*You have to have a players ACCESS card from the Edgewater or Colorado Belle to receive the special price. These are FREE at the customer service in either Casino so drop in and pick one up even if you are not going to use it in the Casino. The regular price on the "menu" for the special is $49.99. Though we did note that on our check it was $25.99 and the use of our card dropped it to $19.99.

This special is the only reason we have ever visited the Hickory Pit. In the past we really enjoyed the meal and experience. This time, however, was a polar opposite. As the prices have gone up the quality and service has fallen off. The food was not bad enough to complain about too much, it just was not what we remember and certainly not a great meal.

Just the two of us went and we both ordered the special. One NY Strip with Lobster Tail. One Filet Mignon with Lobster Tail. Both with a baked potato and side salad.

Upon arriving at the restaurant there were only a couple people in line at the hostess podium. We noticed that oddly enough the Live Lobster tank had no lobster (still had water). Without going on too much of our normal rant about the lack of service in most restaurants in Laughlin, once again we were met with a display of complete indifference to customers. The hostess didn't even bother to look up or say anything to anyone waiting to dine. Not even a hello, a welcome, a "it will be one moment". She just kept looking at her little reservation book. Finally, she looked up and said "how many" to the couple ahead of us and silently took them to a table. Then she did the same for us, only remarking our server Kyle would be along soon. We watched her repeat this for the entire time we were there. Very unwelcoming and unfriendly. On top of it her name tag indicated she was the lead or head hostess. Would hate to see how the a non-lead hostess would act. So much for hospitality.

On to the food. A basket of bread and butter was dropped off right away. Three kinds of bread, all of it was fresh and decent.

Bread Basket

Kyle took our drink orders and they came promptly...but...both the glass for a beer and the wine glass filled with wine was extremely wet, covered in water drops. As if they were just washed but not dried. Sort of unpleasant to see.

Water on the Wine Glasses. Just washed but not dried????

Already our enthusiasm about dinner was dropping.

We split a shrimp cocktail ($11.99 for 5 large shrimp). They were pretty good, but definitely not as good as one we had at another Steakhouse in Laughlin. Personally, I do not think each shrimp is worth more than $2 each.

Shrimp Cocktail

Salads were fresh and good, a standard house salad. Dressings were average, nothing special there.

Salad

We enjoy a leisurely dinner, especially in a nicer place when going out for dinner. Nothing is worse than each course coming out too quickly. Except a overly long wait between them. It was more than 25 minutes after we had finished our salads before Kyle finally reappeared with our entrees. Given there were only about 10 tables seated this was not acceptable. He did not even come by during this time to check if we needed anything.

Baked potato's are fixed table side with your choice of toppings. The veggies on the plate were a mix of and some sort of squash, not very good.

The filet mignon was very good, cooked just right as ordered. Keep in mind this is a very, very small cut of steak, perhaps 3-4 ounces max. It even looks out of place on the plate. Don't expect a standard size filet you will get in most restaurants when you order this special. The lobster tail on this entree was ok. For some reason they pull it out for you and throw it on top of the shell though.

The New York Strip actually tasted better than it looked. It was overcooked to a medium well instead of medium. There was really nothing spectacular about it as a steak, similar to one you could get in any moderate quality steak place. The lobster on this entree was way overdone. Almost tough, the shell had scorch marks. Not sure how they cooked one on the first entree different than this one.

Surf and Turf - NY Strip with Lobster Tail

For $19.99 this special now comes across as the restaurant trying to cut corners on the size and quality instead of giving you a quality meal at a great deal. It is not really a special if you get less quality than you would if you paid full price. The staff also seems slightly annoyed or irritated when people order this special. Either make it good or don't offer it.

We skipped dessert after Kyle half-heartedly asked us if we wanted anything else. On a side note, Kyle was nice enough, pleasant, but not quite the professional sort of server you would see in a Steakhouse. Perhaps the Buffet or Pints Microbrewery and Restaurant would be a better place for him.

Hickory Pit was one of our favorite places in Laughlin for a steak in the past. At this time we really don't recommend it, even at the special pricing. Our tab with the app, and drinks still came to 80+ dollars plus tip. For that much we expect better service, quality, and atmosphere. This really did seem like just a notch or two up from a Ponderosa feeling.

...and on the way out as we went past the "Lead Hostess" she just looked at us and said not a word. No thank you for coming, have a great night, ki** my ***, nothing!

May 26, 2013

On Monday, May 27th, the Laughlin American Legion Post 60 and auxiliary and the Laughlin VFW Post 243 will conduct a ceremony and services at the Avenue of Flags in Laughlin. This is at the Fisherman's Access park located between Don Laughlin’s Riverside Resort Casino and the Laughlin/Bullhead City Bridge. If you haven't visited this new park that opened last year, this is a perfect chance to do it and honor those who gave so much for us. The service will include reading of names of local individuals currently serving in the military as well as recognition of Laughlin High School graduates and upcoming graduates who have enlisted in the armed forces.

The Memorial Day Weekend fireworks display, presented by the Avi Resort Casino, will be at dusk (Sunday, May 26th). They always put on a great show. Admission to the grounds at the Avi right on the River is free. Get there early, it is always very popular.Video clip of last year's Memorial Day finale at the Avi

May 22, 2013

Recent Visit and Review : May 2013 LunchtimeOnce again we were invited to lunch at the Outback Steakhouse by a friend. Last time we went (for lunch) it was pretty good. See our last review here.This time, however, it was not as good. Food quality seems to have slipped a bit. The service was as unfriendly as usual. We keep hearing that this particular Outback is not nearly as good as other locations, such as in Vegas or Phoenix area.There were very few people dining. Even though the Casino was busy. The restaurant is located in the Aquarius Resort Casino. No one was even sitting on the patio part that overlooks the Casino floor.

One order was the Endless Soup and Salad Lunch Special. French Onion soup was not as good as on our last visit. It was called medicore in flavor and the cheese on the top was not melted enough, it looked like a slightly melted plastic blot.

The House Salad was fresh, with cucumbers, tomato, onion, croutons and ordered with Blue Cheese dressing. Their Blue cheese (chunky style) was outstanding. There were a couple way to big chunks of blue cheese in it though. We also think that if you order a blue cheese dressing on a salad it should not also be covered with a generous helping of cheddar cheese. The greens/lettuce in the salad did contain far too much of the hard white core parts too. We don't mind a bit of this in a salad but in this case there was too much.

Extra Big Chunks of Blue Cheese

Outback Burger

Tons of Mustard

Well Done

Regular Margarita was much better and only $4.25

Perhaps the food and service is the reason.

This combo lunch special is a good value, especially if you have a good appetite and want more than one cup of soup or salad. Honestly though, how many people do?

We also had the Outback Burger, skipped the cheese. We assummed it would be a plain burger, however it came loaded with mustard, lettuce, tomato and pickles. There was way too much yellow mustard, which overwhelmed the burger. We ordered the burger medium well in hopes it wouldn't be too dry. We got a well done (large) hockey puck. In retrospect we should of went with Medium, then we would of probably gotten Medium Well.

The usual loaf of dark bread (perhaps a pumpernickel) came with the lunches, it was hot, obviously heated in the Microwave.

Based on a recommendation by the server and the placard on the table we ordered the New, Strawberry 'Rita (see picture below). Not quite what is advertised, especially for $9.25. Ours had no strawberries in it, wilted lime wedges, and only sporadic sugar on the rim. Couldn't resist the side by side picture.

We passed on dessert. Not that they asked if we wanted any or needed anything else, including another drink.

If you want a burger go elsewhere. On second thought, there are many other good choices for lunch that would exceed the experience, quality and service that this Outback Steakhouse is currently providing.

May 14, 2013

Sign Duct Taped to the Curtains at the entrance to the Race and Sports Book

If you have ever been to the Edgewater Casino Race and Sports Book, you may have noticed it was in severe need of a makeover.

As of May 13th, the William Hill Race and Sports Book in the Edgewater Casino is undergoing a remodel. It Hours have changed and are now 9am-8pm, 7 days a week the remodel is finished (expected to be done June 18th).

Perhaps they will also fix the A on the sign now too!

We would love to see some much improved customer service to go with the new look coming soon!

Note from us at Laughlin Buzz: All of the 100, 200, 300 sections are metal bleachers. The price difference simply reflects how high up on them you are seated. As of today's blog post we checked availability and only bleacher seats appear to be left. Call the number listed above if you want to check on what is available.
The middle section (VIP, Section A and B) are floor (parking lot) seats consisting of folding chairs.

Sections B1 and B6 are reserved for ADA guests. Tickets must be purchased in these floor sections to guarantee wheelchair/companion seating.

The Bleachers as seen for the River Walk

The Amphitheater is located in between Casino Drive and the Laughlin River Walk in a large parking lot right next to the River Palms and Golden Nugget.

Floor/Ground Seats at the recent Reba Concert

After the first show at the venue there were some complaints over a faulty generator, the seating, etc. Here is a response that the officicial sponsor of the event put out on the Laughlin Amphitheater Facebook page:

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Hey everyone, we shared your complaints and comments with the Laughlin Tourism Commission. MJ at the LTC wanted to let everyone know the following:

The venue seats 8,000 and only 8,000 tickets were sold.

We have always run generators at our events, it's the only way to power at these remote sites. We've never had an issue before. There was a faulty generator but it was switched off immediately once it was found. We will look into an alternative placement for the generators.

Our bleacher seats are 18 inches wide, compared to most venues where they measure 14-16 inches and are completely safe.

We will be adding a jumbo-tron to Steve Miller and Toby Keith.

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The jumbo-tron will be a welcome addition to the show, especially for concert goers seated in the middle to upper bleacher seats.

Weather looks like it is going to be beautiful and it should be a great evening on the Colorado River for the show! If you are going be sure to read our review below about parking and getting to and from the site.

May 11, 2013

Just a short time ago Joe's Crab Shack closed in the Golden Nugget Laughlin. Bubba Gump replaced it and opened on April 12, 2013.

We made our first visit to Bubba Gump a couple weeks later. Unfortunately it was a bit too windy for us to sit on the deck, which is right on the Colorado River. This is one of the only places you can have lunch or dinner right on the water in Laughlin.

They were only moderately busy when we arrived. Despite the hostess podium they have just outside the entrance we had to go into the restaurant to find someone to seat us.

No Host or Hostess at the Entrance

A couple of girls working there seemed unsure who was doing the seating and we ended up standing there for too long. On an positive note they were bubbly and friendly but still didn't know what they were doing or even if they should seat people. A line started to form behind us and finally one of the girls who seemed to be waiting and looking for the actual hostess to seat us told us to follow her. She grabbed a napkins and utensils and menus and showed us to the closest table. Then she proceeded to do the same with the others in line. She seemed very frazzled, didn't even say anything as she seated us and ran off. She simply left the menus and utensils in a pile on the table.

Sometimes we wonder if it is just us or if poor service just seems to run common in most of the Laughlin restaurants.

Another server finally showed up at our table, very friendly again. She did apologize for the confusion on seating and took our drink orders. Many of the drinks come with a souvenir shaker (plastic) glass you get to take home. There are many good sounding drinks on the menu to choose from. The CoronaRita was on special too!

Given the expected size of the entrees we skipped the Appetizers. They looked good though, especially the new Crab Stuffed Mushrooms and soups (Clam Chowder and Shrimp Gumbo).

Since it was our first visit and this is the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., we went ahead and ordered the two signature dishes. The Shrimper's Heaven and Forrest's Seafood Feast.

The Shrimper's Heaven features 4 kinds of shrimp: Hand Breaded Coconut Shrimp, Chilly Shrimp,
Fried Shrimp, and Japanese style Tempura Shrimp. Plus fries. Three dipping sauces accompanied it: Asian, Cocktail and a Cajun Remoulade, which was the best one. We had to get an extra cup of it, it was that good. All the shrimp very good and fresh. Honestly though, the shrimp are about on par or maybe a little better than you would get at a place like Red Lobster during Shrimpfest. They were nicely presented on newspaper and served in cones. $20.99, perhaps a bit high but given it is a theme restaurant it was about what is expected.

Forrest’s Seafood Feast includes Southern Fried Shrimp, Seafood Hush Pups, Fish & Chips, Coleslaw and three dipping sauces, Tartar, Cocktail and the Remoulade. We actually preferred this dish to the Shrimper's Heaven. The fish was juicy, light, and tasty. The batter was good, not thick or overwhelming, had a nice crunch. The Seafood Hush puppies were a big improvement over normal every day dry hush puppies. Moist and delicious, we both loved them (and one of us normally doesn't like hush puppies). The presentation was nice again, on newspapers (detailed as if the paper came straight from Forrest's hometown paper in Alabama). The coleslaw was a nice mix of fresh cabbage with a vinegar based dressing. The Feast was $19.79.

This was a very big set of entrees for two people, we shared and had to take some home as we couldn't finish it. No room for dessert either. Many other items on the menu seem worth trying, so we will be back to visit again.

The dining room is the same as Joe's was, now just with a different theme. And a more pronounced theme. Everywhere you look is about Forrest Gump, signs, sayings, and even the movie playing on the TV. Drinks are displayed on Forrest Gump ping pong paddles. The servers even come around and ask Forrest Gump trivia questions.

In spite of the rocky start to our service, the rest of the time everything went smoothly. We didn't even have to use the sign provided on the table. If you need something, you can flip the blue Run Forrest Run sign over to the red side to get the attention of your server.

The restaurant has the obligatory little gift shop at the front, with T-shirts, glasses, etc.. If you get a drink with the souvenir glass you pick it up at the front gift shop desk on the the say out. A clean, new one of course in a Bubba Gump bag to go home. Right up to walking out the door all the staff was very friendly and bubbly. They try very hard and succeed at giving the entire visit a Forrest Gump theme.

Expect a meal for two with a drink to be a bit high in price, more if you get appetizers, dessert, or more than one drink. We do recommend it as long as you enjoy this sort of theme style restaurant. We look forward to trying some of the other (lower priced) choices.

But, yes, Joe's Crab Shack is still preferred over Bubba Gump by us and will be missed.